Take a shot at the sun with your laser gun
This isn't really a recipe, more of some vague guidelines for making the soup I just had for lunch. The soup was an accidental side effect of having a nearly-eaten roast chicken in the fridge and finding one of those overpriced "chef's selection" thingies of vegetables (fashionable carrots, baby corn, green beans, posh broccoli) in Tesco's reduced-to-silly rack.
1. Strip any viable chicken from your chicken carcass, and make stock with what's left. I made mine overnight in the slow cooker, and the seasonings dictated by whim and what was first out of the lucky-dip spice box were bay leaf, pink peppercorns and juniper berries.
2. Chop up all vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Shred the chicken - I used two forks, in a poor imitation of the way professionals shred crispy duck in Chinese restaurants.
While playing hunt-the-spring-onions among the multiple brown paper greengrocer's bags in the fridge, inadvertently discover some slightly elderly exotic mushrooms which apparently missed their intended dish the previous weekend.
3. If your stock is cold, skim off the fat and pop it in a pan. Supplement/replace with olive oil as required. Gently fry chopped spring onions and any vegetables that need serious cooking (carrots, in my case).
4. Add chopped herbs (sage, since the sage plant was getting a bit out of control), mushrooms, salt, pepper and stock, and simmer until the vegetables look mostly cooked.
5. Add in the remaining vegetables and chicken, and a splash of calvados (leftover from a hen party and - really - what does one do with calvados?) Now! At this point, either cook until ready to serve or (as I did), just heat through, remove from heat, freeze, and rely on later microwaving to cook the veg.
The resulting soup is quite light in taste, but substantial enough to be a meal (if you've put enough vegetables in). It would probably benefit from having greens or more herbs stirred through, pho-style, just before eating.
Serve under a shady sycamore tree, with some slightly out-of-date rosemary breadsticks on the side.
1. Strip any viable chicken from your chicken carcass, and make stock with what's left. I made mine overnight in the slow cooker, and the seasonings dictated by whim and what was first out of the lucky-dip spice box were bay leaf, pink peppercorns and juniper berries.
2. Chop up all vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Shred the chicken - I used two forks, in a poor imitation of the way professionals shred crispy duck in Chinese restaurants.
While playing hunt-the-spring-onions among the multiple brown paper greengrocer's bags in the fridge, inadvertently discover some slightly elderly exotic mushrooms which apparently missed their intended dish the previous weekend.
3. If your stock is cold, skim off the fat and pop it in a pan. Supplement/replace with olive oil as required. Gently fry chopped spring onions and any vegetables that need serious cooking (carrots, in my case).
4. Add chopped herbs (sage, since the sage plant was getting a bit out of control), mushrooms, salt, pepper and stock, and simmer until the vegetables look mostly cooked.
5. Add in the remaining vegetables and chicken, and a splash of calvados (leftover from a hen party and - really - what does one do with calvados?) Now! At this point, either cook until ready to serve or (as I did), just heat through, remove from heat, freeze, and rely on later microwaving to cook the veg.
The resulting soup is quite light in taste, but substantial enough to be a meal (if you've put enough vegetables in). It would probably benefit from having greens or more herbs stirred through, pho-style, just before eating.
Serve under a shady sycamore tree, with some slightly out-of-date rosemary breadsticks on the side.